Omnipresent wildlife
During his stay in Uganda, the zoologist will not know where to turn. Creeping, flying, swimming, running: wildlife is everywhere. Outside the protected areas that are parks and reserves, a host of animals can be observed (from the vervet to the ankole cow, via the varan), fished (following the example of the tilapia and the invasive Nile perch) and feared by men (black mamba, naja...). However, most travellers are more interested in the large mammals and reptiles (python, Nile crocodile...) that haunt the woods, bush and waters of the national parks. Although wildebeest and their famous migrations are absent, although rhinos no longer roam freely the savannah (the species, reintroduced in Uganda, is hardly present today except in the Ziwa sanctuary), although the herds are less consequential than those of Kenyan and Tanzanian parks, the Ugandan protected areas, more intimate, will reward their visitors a hundredfold. A small bestiary for the use of the sceptics: in addition to the mountain gorilla (Uganda's number one wildlife attraction), the country is home to nearly twenty species of primates, including the mischievous chimpanzee, the ubiquitous baboon, the endemic Ugandan mangabey, the rare golden monkey and the protected Hoest's cercopithecus. The felids are not to be outdone since the lion king is present as well as the serval, the caracal, the leopard, the wild cat and the cheetah (in Kidepo and Pian Upe). Among the large herbivores, let us mention the elephant, the buffalo, the giraffe, the hippopotamus, the zebra and so on. Antelopes are also numerous: Jackson's hartebeest, crescent cobbler, Cape eland, impala, sitatunga, greater kudu and others... Let's add to this summary the carnivorous spotted hyena. Convinced?
Chirping and gossiping
With over 1,000 recorded bird species, Uganda is a favourite destination for birders. You don't need to visit the parks and reserves to be moved by this small avian world. Eagles, ibises, bee-eaters, rollers, kingfishers, pelicans, the elegant and fascinating winged gentry has, in fact, taken over the entire national territory! Nevertheless, the enlightened amateurs will be able to take the direction of the forests, savannahs and marshes of the country in order to devote themselves to the birding (observation and recognition of the birds), an activity quoted to which the Ugandan guides are generally very well trained. They are unrivalled in their ability to track down the stealthiest of birds and the endemic sparrow hawks. Apart from the photogenic crowned crane (the country's emblem), some species are particularly sought after, such as the Nile Shoebill and Grauer's Eurylaime. You will find the first one in the Mabamba swamps, in the Nile Victoria delta (Murchison Falls National Park) and in the Toro-Semliki reserve (which shelters 439 other bird species...). For the latter, it is towards the Bwindi Forest (where 90% of the endemic species of the Albertine Rift are found, including the magnificent Rwenzori Touraco and Royal Souimanga) that you should head. Among this myriad of birds, let's mention, in no particular order, the weaver (outstanding nest builder), the ostrich (present in Kidepo Park and Pian Upe Reserve), the great blue touraco (star of the Bigodi marshes), the Karamoja apalis (endemic to the region of the same name), the Abyssinian roller (with its brilliant plumage), the paradise chitrec (a popular passerine), the papyrus gonolek (hidden in the papyrus groves), the African fish eagle (soaring), the blue swallow (one-sixth of the world's population winters in the Lake Nabugabo lake system), the Nahan francolin (endangered) and the marabou (a must-see in Kampala).. For your information, the Queen Elizabeth National Park, with about 620 species, is the richest, ornithologically speaking, in East Africa. Don't forget your binoculars!
Uganda: a country of beautiful plants..
The flora of the "Pearl of Africa" should not leave the informed botanist unmoved. The beautiful neighbourhoods of Kampala, where flamboyants, frangipani and ravenalas grow, the rural cultivated plots, where banana, coffee, tea, manioc or sweet potatoes grow, and the southern swamps, where papyrus blossoms, constitute a good introduction before exploring the superb forests and savannahs making up the national parks. The savannahs of Uganda are among the country's most iconic landscapes, whether they are shrubby or grassy. Broadly speaking, this vegetation formation thrives in regions with a marked seasonality where the average annual rainfall is between 500 and 1,500 mm. Also, according to the seasons, the colour of the savannah changes from green to yellow and then to scorched brown. In this bush, more or less bushy, where acacias dominate (tasted by elephants and giraffes), are also to be noted the euphorbia candelabra, the sausage tree(Kigelia africana), the sycamore fig tree and, more particularly at Kidepo and Murchison Falls, the roan tree. Let us now move on to the no less well known sylves. Lowland rainforests require an average annual temperature of 25°C and at least 1500 mm of rainfall per year. They are evergreen, with an extremely varied flora and a dense canopy that barely lets the sunlight in. Each tree is covered with a multitude of epiphytes (like orchids) and lianas. These hygrophilous forests give off an impressive strength. The high altitude forests are of the same type. In their case, the vegetation changes according to the altitude and the rainfall: one passes thus from the stage (1 500 to 2 500 meters) where dominate the forest species typical of the tropical mountains(prunus africana, teak...), to the open forest (2,500 to 3,000 metres), dotted with bamboo (and sometimes conifers such as the African juniper), then to the moor (3,000 to 3,500 metres), dotted with shrubs, heather and ferns, before finally reaching the Afro-alpine stage (above 3,500 metres), in which giant lobelia, ragwort, immortelle, lichen and mosses stand out..
